European Parliament votes for review of daylight saving time

The EU assembly has called for a review of the twice-yearly hour changes across the bloc. A Finnish citizens’ petition and health concerns have led to the move.

European Parliament members voted 384 to 153 in a non-binding resolution on Thursday to urge the European Commission to carry out a “thorough assessment” of the daylight saving time (DST) arrangements for summer time and, if necessary “come up with a proposal for its revision,” dw.com reports.

“Numerous studies have failed to reach a conclusive outcome, but indicate negative effects on human health,” the members of European Parliament wrote in their proposal.

For decades, Europeans have gone through a twice-yearly ritual of changing their clocks to make the most of natural daylight. Current EU law came into force in 2001 and set a bloc-wide date and time for the start and end of summer.

In late March each year clocks go forward by 60 minutes and in late October they are put back again.

A study for the European Commission in 2014 found a majority of EU member states were happy with the existing time arrangements.

Any proposal to amend the law would need the approval of a majority of EU member states governments and the parliament. The whole process could take more than a year.

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